How to remove thermal paste off cpu?

The "lots of rubbing with a dry paper towel" method has worked well enough for me so far...
 
after the bulk is off switch form paper towels to coffee filters since they are lint free and you dont need lint between the cpu and the heatsink
 
I used rubbing alcohol and a micro-fiber cleaning cloth (came with a cheap $1 smartphone screen protector).
 
+1 to coffee filters. Cheap and lint free. The two piece cleaning solution from Artic Silver works very well and last a long time.
 
Its amazing how many things people will come up with to do such a simple task. Its a goo on an object. Use what you would use in any situation. A solvent.

Isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol works wonders.
 
Worth noting that you should use 98%-99% instead of regular 70% rubbing alcohol. You may have to ask for it at the counter as it's usually not out on shelves at most stores.
 
Bulk off then rubbing alcohol with Q-Tips (cotton ear cleaner). Higher alcohol content the better, as mentioned above.
 
Isopropyl and a lint free cloth. As mentioned, coffee filters work well for that as an easily available option in most households. That's the officially suggested method from the Arctic Silver instructions, so I assume it must be fairly optimal.
 
I usually either do the Q-tip w/ isopropyl method or, as someone said above, the ArctiClean 2-bottle set works pretty well. I had some ArctiClean that I just used to clean the goo off some water blocks a while back.

Haven't tried coffee filters yet, though they get a lot of recommendations. Of course I don't drink coffee so they would rot in the cupboard when not cleaning things. :D
 
I read somewhere people were using diluted bleach or ammonia.
I used Ammonia(Windex) since really all you want is not plain water, so it'll evaporate fast and i used Q-tips then a lint free cloth to make sure nothing was left behind.
So far so good.
 
I usually always go with isopropyl and coffee fitlers. Sometimes I'll use a random plastic card from my wallet to scrape the bulk off first.
 
I've been using ordinary medical 90% alcohol with tissue or the lens cleaning cloth.Works perfectly.
 
I mostly go with the tried and true isopropyl and coffee filters along with some patience. I just got the ArctiClean kit but have yet to test it out.
 
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Yup that's what I used on my AM3 stock cooler and CPU when I upgraded to a Noctua cooler.
 
I just wipe it off with a rag then clean it proper with 90% alcohol nothing special needed anthing special bought, clean is clean end of story.
 
I like the Arcticlean two part cleaning kit and coffee filters. Easier and faster.
 
Alcohol normally works for me, but I had a video card with this weird super shiny like liquid mercury paste that wouldn't come off with alcohol.
 
The articlean solvent is the same as goo-gone, which you can get 10 times as much for the same price. goo-gone with paper towel or coffee filter, then as a final touch a quick wipe with alcohol.
 
I've used q-tips and 70% rubbing alcohol, and my CPU is doing fine. I would think paper towels would leave lint.
 
Lint can be a problem, so can cotton off Q-tips, not usually on a CPU, but around a Northbridge or Southbridge. That may become old news.
 
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